A former friend of suspected CEO shooter Luigi Mangione explained Monday how a severe back injury affected his early adulthood.

Mangione, 26, was arrested and charged for the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson after being found in Pennsylvania on Monday. Police were notified of his presence at a fast food restaurant by a tipster, and he was arrested shortly after.

Hours after the news of his capture, R.J. Martin — who befriended Mangione when the two lived in Hawaii in 2022 — joined Erin Burnett OutFront to talk about what he was like. Martin, the founder of the Honolulu-based co-living space Surfbreak, first met Mangione when he was a Surfbreak applicant. It was during that initial interview process that Mangione opened up about his back issue.

“When I first interviewed him before he moved in, I remember he said he had a back issue and he was hoping to get stronger in Hawaii,” Martin told Burnett, “so he was always focused on trying. When he first came, he went on a surf lesson with other members; and, unfortunately, just us [doing] basic surf lessons, he was in bed for about a week. We had to get a different bed for him that was more firm; and I know it was really traumatic and difficult. When you’re in your early 20s and you can’t do some basic things, it can be really, really difficult.”

Martin added that while Mangione never brought up health insurance as it related to his condition, he did reference an “impending surgery” that “weighed” on him.

Aside from that, however, Martin described Mangione as “thoughtful,” “friendly” and a “leader.” He also credited Mangione as a driving force in the creation of a book club at the living space.

In a report from the Honolulu Civil Beat, Martin said he and another member suggested the club read the manifesto of Ted Kaczynski — also know as the Unabomber — as a joke. The manifesto was “painful to read” and “so hard to engage with” that the club fell apart shortly after.

According to a review of the manifesto on Mangione’s Goodreads account, the would-be murder suspect sympathized with much of Kaczynski’s writing.

Watch above via CNN

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